* 𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.

Like Everyone Else || @allectos

It was as though the universe had been listening to his thoughts and conversations. It’d only been a week since he and Amycus had discussed betrothals. The conversation had arisen out of his own suspicious, but still, it was ridiculous nonetheless. Here he was, sat at the Slytherin table with a letter from his father. When he’d spotted his Scops owl Dragomir he had expected to see his mothers delicate handwriting on the note dropped in front of him. Instead he was greeted with the thick, heavy-handed lettering of his father. 

The note was short and concise, with no detection of compassion or empathy (not that he had anticipated that). It simply stated the facts: he was to marry Alecto Carrow, continue to form connections with his peers, and (finally) seal his fate with the right side. 

Stoyan wished the letter didn’t make him furious. On the outside looking in, others might not have even noticed the anger spreading out from his chest into his fists. His face remained neutral, though the note crumpled underneath his fingers might have given someone a clue. “Предполагам, че е време,” he muttered, standing up from the table. 

||

Finding Alecto turned out to be easier than he really wanted it to be. “I’m assuming you received the news as well?”

Alecto dreaded letters from her father. He rarely wrote to her, so whenever he cared enough to go to the effort of doing so, it was usually filled with something she’d rather not hear. Fail another test, and you’ll spend your entire summer in the basement. Or something more cheery, like, if you get caught and dirty our name, I will kill you. Fun father-daughter bonding. However, there hadn’t been any discretions on her part recently, and this letter was quite honestly, unexpected. Jaw clenched and nails pushing into the skin of her palms until those were bleeding, she tried to steady herself as she stared at the envelope. 

It took her a minute or two to get over her nervosity, clean the blood off her hands with a napkin, and rip open the envelope at the Carrow wax seal on the back. Realizing she was in a public space, and that she had a reputation, Alecto let an ice-cold expression fall over her face — but she still could not help the sharp intake of breath as she read the message. 

You will be marrying Stoyan Krum. No objections. 

Her father didn’t bother with any more words, or even as much as a signature. He did not care, as long as she followed his orders. That was all that mattered. As she let the letter drift out of her hands and down onto the table, the voice of her — the word filled her veins with ice, but she supposed it was appropriate — betrothed greeted her. 

“Can you break it off?” Her voice was soft as she asked, face set in a very un-Alecto kind of expression. “The betrothal. Can you break it?”

Unsurprisingly, Alecto’s eyes lit up as she eyed the front page of the Daily Prophet, mentioning the death of three Aurors, framed by the Dark Mark looming over the location where it happened. A small smile grew on her lips, but realizing she was surrounded by other students, she quickly hid it behind the carefully constructed cold mask again.

Still, she couldn’t resist a small remark on it, innocent enough to pass as genuine concern but with enough of an undertone to truly tell what she thought about this situation, especially not when she spotted Lucius’ familiar face nearby.

“Quite the tragedy, wouldn’t you say?”

His mother had tried her best to prepare him for the grand size of Hogwarts, but her words failed to capture the true presence of the school. Durmstrang had been much smaller and Stoyan felt more than out of place walking the large unfamiliar halls. At least his dorms and common area reminded him of his former school - offering one place of comfort (aside from the quidditch pitch). 

Stoyan wasn’t even sure how his father had managed to convince the headmaster to let him start late, but he was less than thrilled to be the person walking into class a month late. However, not being able to join the quidditch team as a beater made him even more frustrated - what was he supposed to spend his time doing? Studying? Socializing? 

Making his way through the halls, he cursed, running a hand over his buzzed head, “защо това училище е толкова шибано голямо.” All he wanted was to have one flying session before really becoming a part of this… place. Was that too much to ask?

“Please tell me I’m headed toward the fucking quidditch pitch?”

“My Bulgarian is a tad rusty, so I hope I got that right — but I guarantee, it will take you at least until the end of the school year to be able to find your way around most of the place without getting lost,” Hearing the string of Bulgarian coming from in front of her, she assumed she’d just ran into Stoyan Krum, looking hopelessly lost. 

Truth be told, Alecto herself had struggled with the same issue in her first year at the school, something she rarely admit to — mostly because Alecto just hated admitting things she was or had been bad at. But, she liked exploring places, enjoyed finding hidden passages and alcoves behind tapestries, and by her seventh year, she had accustomed a pretty generous amount of knowledge about Hogwarts and it’s layout. 

“You are — at least, in a way,” Dressed in her workout gear and broom in hand, she was looking to get an hour or two in the air herself, working off some of the frustrations that had hit her during the day. Quidditch training was a better way to get rid of her anger rather than firing a curse in the direction of one of her professors, she thought. 

“If we cut through that one greenhouse with the broken window, you’ll come out near the North Tower, which is close to the Pitch.” Alecto was rarely ever this helpful, but her father had introduced her to Stoyan at a dinner, and aside from his pressure, she was interested in asking him about Durmstrang, or specifically, their Dark Arts classes.

Bellatrix had been looking for this exact compartment, and a smirk crossed her lips at her best friend’s quick response. “Oh, well I’m sure the both of us and our big heads will still fit in one of these,” she teased as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her, taking a seat across from the redhead. “I saw what you did to that first year, very nice. Frighten them before they even get to school, they’re already ahead of the curve now. I heard Slughorn is going to have a little get together soon, are you going?”

“Oh, I doubt that — we might have to pop a window, just in case. Merlin knows this school doesn’t have the funds for a remodel,” She answered her friend as she entered the compartment, mirroring the smirk on her face with one of her own. “You’d think the first years would learn by now not to disturb an older student, and yet, every single year, I face the same issue on the train,” Truth be told, as Bellatrix said, Alecto enjoyed frightening them before they even got to school. A great way to keep them docile. “Possibly, yes. His dinner is always better than what they serve in the Great Hall. How about you?”

Where were her friends? Mary couldn’t seem to find any of her friends that she knew, searching from compartment to compartment. Pulling one door open, Mary’s expression instantly soured as she spotted who occupied it. “Ugh, I was just trying to find my friends. Trust me, the last thing I want to do, is sit with you.” 

“Well then, I suggest you learn how to knock — that is, if you don’t wish to arrive at Hogwarts under the cover of a burial shroud,” Alecto raised her eyebrows the slightest bit, face schooled in the coldness she’d picked up during her childhood. “Now, why don’t you get a move on — some of us want to enjoy the train ride with some peace and quiet.”

Was that MADELAINE PETSCH I just saw walking down the hallways? Oh wait, no - that was ALECTO CARROW. The CIS FEMALE is a TWENTY-TWO year old SLYTHERIN who is in YEAR 11. I heard the PUREBLOOD has chosen to SIDE WITH THE DEATH EATERS which explains why SHE is CHARISMATIC and ADVENTUROUS, but also HEDONISTIC and REMORSELESS. But who really knows?

hi y’all i’m mar, and this is the first of my trash children, alecto!!! i’m super super SUPER bad at intros so instead i will link you to my about tag as well as my wanted connections page down below, come hit me up for plots on here or discord!! <3